Comic Relief, is it just a rip off?

Mike P you are a total con and everyone hates you and your pathetic stories high, you have no life or friends and all you can do is go to the Internet and lying to everyone, the best part of you slide your leg fell moms.

Much better in Google English I think

Mike P vous sont un con total et chacun vous déteste et vos grandes histoires pitoyables, vous n'avez aucune vie ou amis et tout ce que vous pouvez faire est continuent Internet et mentent à chacun, la meilleure partie d'entre vous est descendue en glissant votre jambe de mamans.

The following article by Kevin Myers (sp?) was published in the Irish Independent. As there is no free press in Europe, the newspaper was forced to remove it from their website. It is worth reading and gives much food for thought, although that may not be a good analogy in the context. (Some letters replaced with **** for the filters on this site)


Africa is giving nothing to anyone -- apart from AIDS

No. It will not do. Even as we see African states refusing to take action to restore something resembling civilisation in Zimbabwe, the begging bowl for Ethiopia is being passed around to us, yet again.

It is nearly 25 years since Ethiopia's (and Bob Geldof's) famous Feed The World campaign, and in that time Ethiopia's population has grown from 33.5 million to 78 million today.

So why on earth should I do anything to encourage further catastrophic demographic growth in that country? Where is the logic? There is none. To be sure, there are two things saying that logic doesn't count.

One is my conscience, and the other is the picture, yet again, of another wide-eyed child, yet again, gazing, yet again, at the camera, which yet again, captures the tragedy of . . .

Sorry. My conscience has toured this territory on foot and financially. Unlike most of you, I have been to Ethiopia; like most of you, I have stumped up the loot to charities to stop starvation there. The wide-eyed boy-child we saved, 20 years or so ago, is now a priapic, Kalashnikov-bearing hearty, siring children whenever the whim takes him.

There is, no doubt a good argument why we should prolong this predatory and dysfunctional economic, social and s****l system; but I do not know what it is. There is, on the other hand, every reason not to write a column like this.

It will win no friends, and will provoke the self-righteous wrath of, well, the self-righteous, letter-writing wrathful, a species which never fails to contaminate almost every debate in Irish life with its sneers and its moral superiority. It will also probably enrage some of the finest men in Irish life, like John O'Shea, of Goal; and the Finucane brothers, men whom I admire enormously. So be it.

But, please, please, you self-righteously wrathful, spare me mention of our own Famine, with this or that lazy analogy. There is no comparison. Within 20 years of the Famine, the Irish population was down by 30pc. Over the equivalent period, thanks to western food, the Mercedes 10-wheel truck and the Lockheed Hercules, Ethiopia's has more than doubled.

Alas, that wretched country is not alone in its madness. Somewhere, over the rainbow, lies Somalia, another fine land of violent, Kalashnikov-toting, khat-chewing, girl-circumcising, permanently tumescent layabouts.

Indeed, we now have almost an entire continent of s****lly hyperactive indigents, with tens of millions of people who only survive because of help from the outside world.

This dependency has not stimulated political prudence or commonsense. Indeed, voodoo idiocy seems to be in the ascendant, with the next president of South Africa being a firm believer in the efficacy of a little tap water on the post-coital p***s as a sure preventative against infection. Needless to say, poverty, hunger and societal meltdown have not prevented idiotic wars involving Tigre, Uganda, Congo, Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea etcetera.

Broad brush-strokes, to be sure. But broad brush-strokes are often the way that history paints its gaudier, if more decisive, chapters. Japan, China, Russia, Korea, Poland, Germany, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia in the 20th century have endured worse broad brush-strokes than almost any part of Africa.

They are now -- one way or another -- virtually all giving aid to or investing in Africa, whereas Africa, with its vast savannahs and its lush pastures, is giving almost nothing to anyone, apart from AIDS.

Meanwhile, Africa's peoples are outstripping their resources, and causing catastrophic ecological degradation. By 2050, the population of Ethiopia will be 177 million: The equivalent of France, Germany and Benelux today, but located on the parched and increasingly protein-free wastelands of the Great Rift Valley.

So, how much sense does it make for us actively to increase the adult population of what is already a vastly over-populated, environmentally devastated and economically dependent country?

How much morality is there in saving an Ethiopian child from starvation today, for it to survive to a life of brutal circumcision, poverty, hunger, violence and s****l abuse, resulting in another half-dozen such wide-eyed children, with comparably jolly little lives ahead of them? Of course, it might make you feel better, which is a prime reason for so much charity. But that is not good enough.

For self-serving generosity has been one of the curses of Africa. It has sustained political systems which would otherwise have collapsed.

It prolonged the Eritrean-Ethiopian war by nearly a decade. It is inspiring Bill Gates' programme to rid the continent of malaria, when, in the almost complete absence of personal self-discipline, that disease is one of the most efficacious forms of population-control now operating.

If his programme is successful, tens of millions of children who would otherwise have died in infancy will survive to adulthood, he boasts. Oh good: then what? I know. Let them all come here. Yes, that's an idea.

Spot on, charity begins at home if all these Ethiopians are so poor why have so many kids then?

What do you call an Ethiopian in a Leather Jacket?

A Gearstick

Charity does begin at home. UK needs to get it's house in order first and might be better placed to help others when a little more stable.

Let the flaming commence.

The longest river in the world runs through. What do they use it for? A Toilet

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/aug/31/charity-bags-doorsteps-sold-abroad

Wow I posted this piece a few years back, and I check on it every 6 months or so....

Its seems to me after reading the comments, that more and more people are wondering where is all the money going!!!!

There is another famine now and these people need our help!!! but how can we?? I don't trust that the money is going to these people I just don't believe it.

So the question is now. Who is nicking the money and WHY are they doing it... these ARE serious questions that need to be asked so that WE can help these poor people.

Until there is accounting transparency of all charities we cannot help. So we need to be asking charities for full undisclosed accounts that are available to the public. (why they are not already is evidence of corruption in my eyes). If we can stop the rot maybe we can get back on track and we can stop the theft of goodwill that is literally killing millions.

Where does the cash go?
Sixty percent of Red Nose Day money is spent in Africa and forty percent here in the UK.
A group of 20 experts carefully work out which projects should receive money.

Since Comic Relief started 20 years ago they have raised over £337 million and made over 7,000 grants. Over £169 million has gone to projects working with poor and disadvantaged people in Africa. In the UK, over £99 million has been given to projects working vulnerable and disadvantaged groups and communities.

Examples of projects:

UK :Bullying is a big problem for young people and can lead to huge amounts of distress and anxiety. The Merseyside Anti-Bullying Steering Group provides a telephone helpline and support for young people affected by bullying.

Africa:During the years of conflict in Sierra Leone, many young boys and girls were forced to join armies and were traumatised by their experiences. Comic Relief is helping to reunite some of them with their families and to give some, especially girls, an opportunity to go school and learn a trade.

Get more details on the sort of projects helped from the Comic Relief website

p.s. I'd like to add this point: What people raise through charities makes a huge difference and yes it's true that some companies try to get a pinch of the profit, they see it as advertising rights. I'd recommend donating directly too the charity rather than through a phone network or whomever is advertising the charity.

I'd also like to make this point: If you question the persistance of charities and why they come back asking for money for the same problems year after year then i'd recommend asking your government that question... Charities do make progress and save countless amounts of life's but it's the governments of the world that have the power to make poverty history. There are campaigns out there you can join to put pressure on world leaders such as the One campaign.

You should read a book called 'Dead Aid' by Dambisa Moyo, she's a Zambian internation economist.

Quote :
[Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa]
In the past fifty years, more than $1 trillion in development-related aid has been transferred from rich countries to Africa. Has this assistance improved the lives of Africans? No. In fact, across the continent, the recipients of this aid are not better off as a result of it, but worse—much worse.

In Dead Aid, Dambisa Moyo describes the state of postwar development policy in Africa today and unflinchingly confronts one of the greatest myths of our time: that billions of dollars in aid sent from wealthy countries to developing African nations has helped to reduce poverty and increase growth.

In fact, poverty levels continue to escalate and growth rates have steadily declined—and millions continue to suffer. Provocatively drawing a sharp contrast between African countries that have rejected the aid route and prospered and others that have become aid-dependent and seen poverty increase, Moyo illuminates the way in which overreliance on aid has trapped developing nations in a vicious circle of aid dependency, corruption, market distortion, and further poverty, leaving them with nothing but the “need” for more aid.

Debunking the current model of international aid promoted by both Hollywood celebrities and policy makers, Moyo offers a bold new road map for financing development of the world’s poorest countries that guarantees economic growth and a significant decline in poverty—without reliance on foreign aid or aid-related assistance.

Dead Aid is an unsettling yet optimistic work, a powerful challenge to the assumptions and arguments that support a profoundly misguided development policy in Africa. And it is a clarion call to a new, more hopeful vision of how to address the desperate poverty that plagues millions.
End

Yes, it's why I googled, "Does fundraising like Comic Relief really help Africans?" The search lead me to your page. I was struck by an African volunteer interviewed on TV who said he found a lot of the West's 'help' was patronising and also a large part of the funds raised never actually reached the very people it was raised for. He wanted the West to stop supporting regimes which caused many of the problems for 'ordinary' Africans and to stop just throwing money at them.

Is all about the governent ross kemp extreme worlds went to haite and he discovered nothing been build such as houses everyone living in tents drinking sewage water. Where is all the so called cash gone to help them.. Watch the proof:
http://sky1.sky.com/ross-kemp-extreme-world-ep-4-haiti
where is these people help, it take ross kemp to go into haite and tell us about whats happening!!!!! where all the donations, ill tell you in governments hands!!

Red nose day is a complete con. I don't buy into it just like I don't buy into any other big charity event and the puffed up holier than thou celebrities that host these things just make me want to heave! When are the going to show us school hospital houses theyve build for them!!!!!!!!!!

after watching all the help such as for mental heath, well ive been to a trying to get help for years, and there no funding for nurses to council patients, Also watching the one doctor help a whole country, these people have been getting money off the world for years, so why is there not a hospital build for them... Comic relief id a rip off, to fund the government.....And its still in chrises!!!Makes me laugh because there using other miserys to gain money... sickos.

I always seem to end up watching Comic Relief as friends want it on and enjoy the entertainment! It makes me uncomfortable on every level and puts me in a bad mood for days. I do try to find the positives: yes, it is good that we have some charity in the country rather than none at, yes other people get excited by it and who am I to deny them that? But I do prefer my approach of giving £43 a month to a varirty of different charities, one of which I have had a direct involvement in and seen the results. Comic Relief is, in my opinion, a once a 'ease your conscience ' show for those who donate, and just an entertainment bonanza for those who don't donate, and these people either don't have much in the way of emotion or else become desensitised to the images - how else can they sit through it? Waiting for Catherine Tate or Alan Carr to appear? We were sitting sipping Cava throughout last night's show, great!
Yes, someone will get helped by it somewhere along the line and I wouldn't want to deny them that but it really is a gut-churning approach to raise money.
Another different point: There are a lot of cultural and religious aspects to consider, but in my opinion anyone in their right mind would spend most of the money encouraging contraception so that babies don't get born into such a hideously degrading life in the first place. You don't have to be rich but you need some kind of disease-free infrastructure and respect, poor people seem to get nothing but disrespect.

I think comic relief is a waste of time. They say they are raising money for UK and Africa but mainly focussed on Africa. BBC showed more videos of children in Africa than children in the UK. I wonder how much money is actually given to charities in the UK??.

I completely agree and I was just thinking exactly the same, hence the reason I ended up on this site. If celebrities paid money, like the ones hosting the show, then the millions living under the poverty line in England may feel better. I have never seen lasting results from ideas such as Comic Relief which worries me. Where are these millions of childen that have been saved??

I can`t be-leave that comic relief is still trying to empty our pockets for foreign aid, when this country needs as much help as it can get. I feel that we as a nation black, white,brown, we should sort out our own problems first

I agree with some comments made, companies such as BT should not be keeping any of the money for themselves, that is a disgrace. I do however worry about an aspect of comic relief, the money that is to be sent to Africa - does it reach the people that need it or is it lining the pockets of already rich African leaders. If we sent the mosquito nets and other equipment needed would they actually try to sell it to the people? We do need to see the footage of the people that need our help to promote the emotional response of donating, but it would also be nice to see what good has been done overe the years, it seems we are constantly trying to fill a hole with a leak.

Colin, "Sightsavers" is a charity that is practical and helps , as the name suggests, to save the sight of people in poorer countries who would otherwise go blind from preventable causes. They are worth supporting:

http://www.sightsavers.org/our_work/default.html